Florida 2007, Days 6 and 7: Hitting the Beach

We woke up eager to see the beach, the pool...everything. We wandered around and swam in both salt water and chlorinated water, relaxing and enjoying our condo-for-the-week. The day was excitement-filled: fishermen catching a shark right where we were swimming (it was a small shark), up to the pool, down to the beach, up to the pool. Bonnie got pinched by a crab twice, Emmett three times. Joel and I each saw a long black snake slithering through the grass by the pool. While we sat under our beach umbrellas, a huge black crow landed right on Bonnie’s umbrella and we hoped it wasn’t a bad omen. Nature everywhere!




In the afternoon, Bonnie and I went to the store and stocked up on supplies—food, rafts, more food. We saw a heron and a crane in the Publix parking lot. Ben and I cooked dinner. Ben grilled steaks (and a ginger-garlic-soy-sauce-marinated tofu steak for me), salad, corn on the cob (also on the grill), and watermelon. After the kids went to bed, the adults relaxed in the night air, out by the pool. Ah, the tropics. To Bonnie and me, pure bliss. (To Ben and Joel, sunburn, sticky salt, and sand in the computer parts can spell nothing good, but I swear they both look more relaxed.)





However, we had no Internet. Over the next few days, Joel resolved this problem by buying an Ethernet cable and fixing the office up with high speed which we can get from our bedrooms.




The next day, I made breakfast burritos in the morning, and the kids rushed back in to tell us that the fishermen had caught another shark (a small hammerhead! they let it go again…but it didn’t seem to scare the kids) in the afternoon. Bonnie and I floated on a raft for about an hour in the Gulf (somewhat nervously trying not to wiggle our toes) while the kids rode the body boards, looked for shells, and played in the pool. After lunch, Ben and I watched the Canadian Grand Prix while the kids played miniature golf at the small course right here at the condo and at 3, everyone was back outside again. Ben saw a raccoon and we all saw a dark brown bunny hopping around. I saw that long black snake again, slithering across the path from the pool to the beach. The kids spent an extended period trying to coax coconuts down from a tree, then trying to break them, drain the water into cups (they drank it before we could tell them not to), open and taste them. I finally convinced them they probably contained pesticide and they then moved on to the next adventure…rehearsing their “stunt kid” television show they decided to invent.





Joel and Bonnie cooked dinner—a clam and shrimp boil with grilled shrimp skewers for the kids, rice, and edamame. I made a pitcher of margaritas, then we all went down to the beach to watch a spectacular sunset. After we put the kids down, the adults sat around the pool again, and we were all sure we saw some creepy creature with glowing eyes slinking around under the beach chairs on the other side of the pool—but when Joel got up to investigate, we were all a little embarrassed to discover it was a beach ball, blowing around under the chairs in the breeze, reflecting the pool light. All the nature has us freaked out, I guess!

Florida 2007, Days Four and Five: Hitting the Road

The road has been full of magic today—a rainbow that began on the road right next to us (as we drove through the rain and the sun at the same time), a truck carrying all the parts of a bright yellow fiberglass airplane, a herd of buffalo on Paynes Prairie as we sailed past Gainesville, and then a strange column of white smoke in the sky that we realized was the trail from the space shuttle that had launched about 40 minutes earlier! That was really cool.


But wait! We're still in Nashville. Back up one day. I won’t go into the domestic drama of the evening before regarding my ex-brother-in-law, who took the kids for a slumber party. Don’t worry, it all ended without incident. With the kids away, we were able to enjoy a mostly grown-up sushi dinner, other than Maya tap-dancing on the table and trying to eat the sugar packets. I tried a sake margarita, which was surprisingly tasty, tangy lime mellowed by the sweet rice wine, and enjoyed avocado sushi rolls, a Buddha roll (vegetable tempura rolled up with sweet sauce), and seaweed salad. Then Joel had to go back to work, so Bonnie, Ben, and I watched the horror movie that Skye starred in, called Claudette. Very impressive! (And gory!) We enjoyed more of the multi-media benefits of Tivo and sipped a nice Shiraz until about 1:30 a.m. The kids came home around 11:00 a.m. We packed up, which always takes triple the time with kids, and hit the road by 2:00 p.m.



The drive to Marietta wasn’t long—five hours including multiple stops, one of which was a long and leisurely dinner at the Cracker Barrel (they have a really good vegetable plate). We arrived in Marietta around 9:00 p.m., to the house of Bonnie’s aunt and uncle, Diane and Doug. Welcomed with good old fashioned southern hospitality and two black Cocker Spaniels, we were shown to comfortable guest rooms and then Doug opened a bottle of his twin brother’s homemade Pinot Grigio, which had an intense apricot aroma but a light tart taste. About an hour later, Doug Jr. showed up (his birthday had been the day before) and we remembered them all from Bonnie and Joel’s wedding. We sat and chatted, intermittently trying to get the kids to bed. I turned in around 11 to read because my brain turns off at 11. Everyone else stayed up until after midnight.


Up after 10 (really 9 on Iowa and Nashville time, but we’re adjusting to this time change), we found that Diane had set out breakfast included pigs in a blanket, toast, cereal, fruit, and coffee. We chatted more and enjoyed the excellent company--and the beautiful day.


On the road again by 12:30, we have a long day of driving today. We stopped past Macon for fast food lunch (not worth describing) and before we got to Valdosta, Angus saw the first palm tree—which means he wins a dollar. But he owes Emmett a dollar (I don’t even want to know why) so Emmett will get the dollar anyway. So, he wasn’t too crushed. (I called him to break the news because he and Zoe are still riding in the van with Bonnie, Joel, and Maya. Angus and Skye are still riding with us.)


At about 4:00 p.m., we still felt like we had a lot of Georgia and even more of Florida to get through. We stopped just over the Florida border for gas and Dairy Queen (a mistake in that a small sundae launched Angus into a hyperactive frenzy for the next 40 minutes, largely fueled by Skye’s laughter). But even before we actually crossed the border, the road, the brush, the sky already looked like Florida –the asphalt roads that would be torn up by snow and ice but which work just fine in the heat, the scrubby vegetation and the trees with the small, thick, shiny leaves, the tall grey-green pine trees, the bright sky adorned with billowing thunderheads glowing beneath the hot, hot sun. And of course, that magnificent space shuttle cloud...



We won’t make it to Tampa tonight, we’ll be too late, so we’ll go straight on through and go back up to see Uncle John, Uncle Joe, Aunt Linda, and Busch Gardens in a few days.

For dinner, the adults couldn't face (or stomach) any more fast food, so we stopped into Johnny Carino's, which turned out to be just perfect--formal enough for us (read: they had wine) and informal enough for the kids.


And then, quite suddenly, as if it were nothing (ha!), we arrived in Longboat Key, in the dark, with the heavy Florida air and the sound of water all around us. To get to our condo, we had to go across a bridge to the key and drive down the long narrow spit of land, resort-ish cottages and businesses all around us. It was late and dark but we knew we were there. With relief, we checked in, arranged where everyone would sleep (Bonnie, Joel, and Maya in the efficiency, Ben and I in the main bedroom, four kids in the living room on inflatable mattresses and the pull-out bed), and we crashed. Because of course we need our sleep. Tomorrow, we hit the beach!

Day of Rest in Nashville

We slept until about 9:30 when the kids got too loud and needy for any more sleeping. They were all trying out the massage chair and their shrieking (I fear shrieking will become this trip’s motif) woke us up. They wanted food of course--years ago I made them all ‘tubby toast’ when they were visiting us (if you’ve ever watched Teletubbies, you know what that is, but our version is made with peanut butter and a jelly face), and they always want it when they are together, despite their advancing ages. So we made them tubby toast. After breakfast, Bonnie and I dropped the kids off at the YMCA where they have two pools, a snack bar, and a workout/game room just for kids 9-12, then we picked up some trip snacks/supplies at Costco, had a fabulous lunch at Café Calypso (black bean and rice salad with bbq sauce dressing, hold the cheese and sour cream, and then came back home. Bonnie put Maya down for a nap and went to the dentist while Ben and I watched HBO and updated the blog. We’ll pick up the kids at 3, do some more shopping, have dinner, get packed up, and hit the road tomorrow morning for Atlanta. We’ll be in Florida by Friday night.

Florida 2007: On the Road to Nashville

Who is this Monkey Queen in the back seat? Read on to find out...

Ah, the free breakfast at the Baymont Inn…pop tarts! The kids were very excited because they don't normally get to eat those at home. We took a dip in the pool and hit the road by 10 after the kids ‘rode’ the dolly with all the luggage down to the lobby (I was pushing—my exercise for the day). We drove for about 6 hours, lunch at Subway, only a little squabbling, and Emmett had fun wearing a monkey queen sleep mask we found on the ground at a gas station. Probably totally unsanitary but it was worth it seeing Emmett wearing it in the backseat.

We arrived at Bonnie and Joel’s at about 4:30. I hadn't seen Maya yet, and she's now an adorable toddling 1 year old with huge personality and a charming stubborn streak. We switched to the van, picked up some burgers and beer, and went to Trevor’s for a BBQ (my ex-brother-in-law’s house, for those who don't know--Ben was a good sport about it). Trevor’s girls were so excited to see the boys, and Angus, Emmett, Skye, Zoe, Chloe, Hailee, and Maya all played (much shrieking involved) and swam in Trevor's backyard pool (more shrieking), we had dinner, Trevor tried to give Emmett two of his dogs and his rabbit (hutch included!) but I put the kibosh on that.


Finally we went back to Bonnie’s house. Joel got home from work about 10 pm and we watched TiVo for awhile. Tivo is cool! They actually have significantly more media technology in their house than we do, which I didn’t think was possible. But Joel is as much if not more of a techy geek than Ben so I guess it’s not surprising. Angus and Skye have always had a special bond and they always pick up right where they left off--now they are sharing their cool pre-teen vibe. Zoe and Emmett have been having a great time being the eccentric pair who ‘don’t need’ their older siblings. They all stayed up way too late because they were having so much fun being together again, but everyone was finally asleep by midnight, and the rest of us followed shortly after.

Florida 2007, Day One: When Will They Invent a Sound-and-Odor-Proof Barrier for the Back Seat?

Getting ready to hit the road...

The last day of school, kids home at 2:08, and vacation officially starts when we hit the road at 4:21. Days on the road, especially on the familiar routes-- I-80 to I-74 to I-57-- don’t generally offer a lot of excitement or anecdote-worthy incidents. You know, just the usual—obnoxious gradeschool-boy fights, goofy gradeschool boy jokes that we only occasionally understand up here in the front seat (at the moment, we’re listening to ‘Ooh look to oot, ooh look to oot, ooh look to oot oot ooples and banoonoos…’), desperate requests for bathroom breaks and indignant inquiries into who caused what bad smell to permeate this small space that seems to be shrinking by the minute. Add to that a round of Tony Hawk Underground on the Playstation that resulted in an unfortunate vomiting incident in which Emmett deposited his partially digested Burger King dinner into a plastic bag…you know, and you've basically got just your usual brand of family car trip.

Several stops, several hours, several movies and video games and heavy metal songs on the TV/Play Station, several more hours, dinner at the aforementioned Burger King (because it’s the only fast food burger joint with a veggie burger), a 20 minute rest stop romp in the dark (see pictures), and we are ready to start looking for somewhere to sleep—somewhere not nice enough to have a restaurant but nice enough to have a free breakfast. We’re about an hour from Effingham, which was my unofficial goal, and that’s close enough, but we haven’t found anywhere that looks quite worth stopping for yet. Then again, the kids just started singing the “All 50 States” song. Loudly. Stopping sooner than later is looking pretty wise right about now…. “Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut…”

Rest stop ramblings: